Our Staff

Tonia grew up in rural central Illinois where her grandfather taught her to grow food annually and perennially in the back yard. Transforming fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden into mouth-watering cobblers and dishes, her grandmother taught Tonia to cook. This passion for food only grew with time, leading her to a decade of professional environmental education and program management roles in Chicago where she worked with youth grades pre K through 12 and various community gardens. Supporting private and public perennial food production systems through the Midwest is lifelong a goal of hers. Unless in ‘the field’ somewhere, Tonia tends to be landscaping with her side business, playing with her dog, or kayaking the local river.